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As Boston bomber faces court, FBI faces more questions

Lisa MillarUpdated
Thu 11 Jul 2013, 9:08 AM AEST

The FBI has come under fire in Washington for not sharing information in the lead up to the fatal bomb attacks that targetted spectators and competitors of the Boston Marathon. In Congress, the organisation was blasted for failing to appear before committees trying to determine what could have been done to prevent the attack. Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, blames political correctness for stopping police officers profiling suspected Islamic extremists. All this comes as the surviving suspect of the bombing faced court for the first time over the attacks.

Transcript

TONY EASTLEY: As the alleged Boston bomber made a brief first appearance in court appearance, charged with the murder of four people including an eight-year-old boy, the FBI has come under fire in Washington for not sharing intelligence information in the lead up to the bomb attacks.

In Congress, the organisation was blasted for failing to appear before committees which are examining what could have been done to prevent the attack on the day of the Boston Marathon.

LISA MILLAR: Hours before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev even arrived, sniffer dogs patrolled the court house and police divers checked the river.

The court room was full - around 30 victims and their families and a row reserved for relatives of the accused - a man and two women sat there - one of them believed to be his sister.

This is the first sighting of the 19-year-old Chechen since he climbed from a boat in a backyard almost three months ago after a bombing and a subsequent manhunt that shut down Boston.

He leaned down into the microphone to plead not guilty to 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction. Seventeen of the charges are punishable by death.

One of the bombing victims Mildred Valverde was there.

MILDRED VALVERDE: He looked really rough like he had the orange jumpsuit on, his hair wasn't done. He turned and looked at his supporters and kinda had like a smirk on his face which was kind of upsetting but, you know.

LISA MILLAR: The hearing lasted just under 10 minutes. There's no date for his trial, although when it does begin it's likely to last three to four months.

He was described by those in court as nonchalant, at times fidgety, other times drowsy. As he was led away, he blew a kiss to his family, one of them heard loudly sobbing.

Liz Norden, whose two sons each lost a leg, was in court.

LIZ NORDEN: I don't know, I actually felt sick to my stomach. It's very emotional for me, so I actually felt, I'm angry but I actually feel really, I don't know. I feel sorry for everybody. I was upset when the sister cried because it just made me want to, I don't know.

LISA MILLAR: Meanwhile in Washington two separate congressional committees have been digging into what could have been done to prevent the attack.

MICHAEL MCCAUL: What concerns me greatly is that the problem at the heart of preventing the Boston bombings is a failure to share information and that is being witnessed now in this very room.

LISA MILLAR: Republican Peter King also condemned the crime fighters.

PETER KING: I think the FBI has a lot to explain for here and I'm not trying to be a Monday morning quarterback but the fact they're not here, Mr Chairman and they've stonewalled us completely since the Boston bombing, I think it is unacceptable.

LISA MILLAR: Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, blames political correctness for stopping authorities confronting threats - like that for Army Major Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009.

RUDY GIULIANI: There would have been a much greater chance of preventing Fort Hood and possibly, and this I emphasis as possibly, the Boston bombings, if the relevant bureaucracies had been less reluctant to identify the eventual killers as potential Islamic extremist terrorists.

LISA MILLAR: All agree though America is safer since September 11, even if the kind of threat has changed.